It is nothing to do with redlining, or abusing the engine though. It is to do with the gearbox, as has been said elsewhere - it is miss-shifting that causes it. Sticking it into 3rd instead of 5th, forcing the engine past it's limit. BUT this is going to cause issue with the engine, not the box. Anyone that is currently experiencing this with issue with FIAT should ask them for 100% clarification on what exactly the issue is, what is meant to have caused it and what damage has been done to the box as a result.
Reading the thread about the driving instructor cars, they all seem to be fitted with 17" wheels on the 1.4's. Wasn't there a know issue on here with diff failures when fitting 17" wheels onto the 1.2 GP's? If FIAT are now fitting 17"'s as standard on the 1.4s, and using the same box and shafts as the 1.2 then surely they've flamingo'd up here.
It is also worth looking at what people who work at dealerships have posted on the issue;
Reading the thread about the driving instructor cars, they all seem to be fitted with 17" wheels on the 1.4's. Wasn't there a know issue on here with diff failures when fitting 17" wheels onto the 1.2 GP's? If FIAT are now fitting 17"'s as standard on the 1.4s, and using the same box and shafts as the 1.2 then surely they've flamingo'd up here.
It is also worth looking at what people who work at dealerships have posted on the issue;
So to recap, you have had three gearbox failures in two seperate cars (not including the last one being towed to garage. There seems to be two common denominators here, Fiat, of which there are millions driving around with no gearbox problems, and the drivers.
We as a dealer are not fitting gearboxes regularly, last gearbox we fitted was in a 147 a year ago, before that we did a stilo 1.6 about two years ago. I would be slightly suspicious if one customer had three failures on two seperate vehicles. Good luck with any claim you have against Fiat, sorry I cant give you any info that could help.
Must admit, never had gearbox problem on a GP before.